4

De El Mundo como Ser (Fragmentos)

by Marcelo Morales Cintero

Ayer mientras leía un poema político me tembló la mano. Sentí la presión del poder, mi

miedo al poder. Ayer, mientras leía, temblé, como la primera vez. Cuando salí, me

encontré en un bar con mis amigos, hablé de todo sin decirles nada. Oscar gritaba

borracho, la otra pedía tequila. Aunque nos quedamos, hace tiempo que nos fuimos.

4

From The World as Presence (Excerpts)

by Marcelo Morales Cintero

Yesterday while I was reading a political poem my hand shook. I felt the weight of

power, my fear of power. Yesterday as I was reading I shook, just like the first time.

When I left I met friends in a bar, talked about everything while telling them nothing.

Oscar was drunk and shouting, someone else ordered tequila. Even though we stay

here, we left a long time ago.

translated from Spanish by Kristin Dykstra

more>>

Marcelo Morales Cintero, born in Cuba in 1977, is a member of a generation of writers who came of age in Havana during the island’s “Special Period” of severe post-Soviet economic crisis. His influences range from international literature to readings in history and philosophy. Dedicated to the slow development of his book projects, Morales has earned many of his literary awards for segments of larger works in progress. For example, excerpts that would come together to form his 2006 poetry collection El mundo como objeto won the 2004 poetry prize presented by La Gaceta de Cuba, as well as an honorable mention in the national Julián del Casal prize competition and a coveted finalist position in the international Casa de las Américas competition. Morales is also the author of the poetry collections Cinema (1997, Pinos Nuevos prize) and Materia (winner of the 2008 Julián del Casal prize), among others. His novel La espiral appeared in 2006. Morales edited and introduced Como un huésped de la noche, an anthology of poetry by Roberto Branly, published in 2010. His current manuscript is El mundo como ser.

Kristin Dykstra’s translations and critical introductions will be featured in three bilingual editions of contemporary Cuban poetry forthcoming from the University of Alabama Press: Other Letters to Milena, by Reina María Rodríguez; Breach of Trust, by Ángel Escobar; and The Counterpunch (And Other Horizontal Poems), by Juan Carlos Flores. She received a 2012 NEA Fellowship for Literary Translation to complete the collection Catch and Release, by Rodríguez (Cuba). Dykstra previously translated several books of poetry from Cuba, including works by Omar Pérez and Rodríguez. She co-edits Mandorla: New Writing from the Americas with Roberto Tejada and Gabriel Bernal Granados and is Professor of English at Illinois State University. While on leave from ISU she is Scholar-in-Residence at St. Michael’s College of Vermont.

Circumference

Poetry in Translation

4

De El Mundo como Ser (Fragmentos)

4

From The World as Presence (Excerpts)